Matt White sacked by Garmin

[im_no_pro]

Matty white has been given the chop by Garmin Cervelo for breaking an internal anti doping rule. Shame for him, however good to see that the team stands by its strong anti doping stance.
linky

[trailgumby]

Ouch. But an smart risk management policy of the team's with regard to medical referrals. Should limit the scope for unpleasant surprises.

[Sven Nijs]

Wow, he guides the team to TDU success this week and they sack him while their having the celebration!

While I can understand their need to act, Vaughters timing sucks - I wonder when "the board of directors" knew about the incident? If it was before or during TDU and yet they waited until just after the race finished to act, then that's pretty low and shows where their priorities lie.

If Vaughters was hoping to keep Aussie riders from going to GreenEdge, I don't think this will have done him any favours.

Sad in so many ways.

[The Womble]

Geesh what did he do? I only saw him with Mike T after the race a few hours ago and he seemed none the wiser

[Uncle Just]

This has hypocrisy written all over it. Sheesh who is clean in cycling? I think despite Vaughters' much vaunted attitude to doping that he would know more than most what riders' were on during his years and who was on the juice. Why did then he hire White who rode for Lance's team at one stage? The only sensible thing I've read all week is that Floyd believes the fight is lost, was always lost and it s/be legalised and administered properly. As for Green Edge, too coincidental to be dismissed as a possible reason. Vaughters' is no doubt still hurting over the Sky defections and doesn't want a repeat.

[MichaelB]

Tough call, but it's the rules within the team.

Bugger for him though.

Floyd is a dork, and his attitudes and flip-flopping is a big annoyance to me.

[Tale]

This has hypocrisy written all over it. Sheesh who is clean in cycling?

If you've seen the film Blood, Sweat and Gears, you'll know why they did this. Slipstream was founded to be the squeaky clean anti-doping team. So they have their rules.

[Drunkmonkey]

This has hypocrisy written all over it. Sheesh who is clean in cycling?

If you've seen the film Blood, Sweat and Gears, you'll know why they did this. Slipstream was founded to be the squeaky clean anti-doping team. So they have their rules.

X 2

Good luck to JV now trying to stop riders leaving at the end of the season for Green Edge - he will relive the Sky nightmare all over again.

[MichaelB]

People keep mentioning that White has signed a role with Green Edge, but wasn't it Cyling Aust. that his job is and that Bannan is the one that signed with Green Edge ?

[Drunkmonkey]

People keep mentioning that White has signed a role with Green Edge, but wasn't it Cyling Aust. that his job is and that Bannan is the one that signed with Green Edge ?

Yeah people are spreading lies without checking the facts.

[Chuck]

People keep mentioning that White has signed a role with Green Edge

Who's been saying that ?

[MichaelB]

People keep mentioning that White has signed a role with Green Edge

Who's been saying that ?

Other fiorums as well, but Matt/GreenEdge keeps getting mentioned in the same breath.

Anyways, sucvks for him, but I think there is a lot that will never be known from behind the scenes....

[Allkai]

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/sport/tea ... 5994104833

He doesnt seem all that cut up about it...

White said it would be a "move forward" for him and the Garmin-Cervelo administration.

"I've had three outstanding and really enjoyable years with the boys from Slipstream and with all the movement in the focus for the team this year I reckon that my own efforts and momentum could be better directed elsewhere for this season," White said.

[jules21]

vaughters is playing politics. white has been linked to GreenEDGE and vaughters is just making a pre-emptive strike, to deny white the opportunity to bring riders across from garmin on garmin's watch.

the circumstances of his sacking stink like rotten fish. they've dragged an incident up from the past at an opportune moment. to me, this just damages garmin's credibility - they are exploiting their so-called anti-doping stance for political gain. dirty stuff.

[Redbull]

vaughters is playing politics. white has been linked to GreenEDGE and vaughters is just making a pre-emptive strike, to deny white the opportunity to bring riders across from garmin on garmin's watch.

the circumstances of his sacking stink like rotten fish. they've dragged an incident up from the past at an opportune moment. to me, this just damages garmin's credibility - they are exploiting their so-called anti-doping stance for political gain. dirty stuff.

Yes and no.

It looks like politics in play but the reality is that he sent a rider to a suspect doctor without involving the medical team.

What garmin has been doing to Lowe is worse.

[toolonglegs]

What garmin has been doing to Lowe is worse

You may change that to the opposite if the current statements about Lowe trying to blackmail garmin are true.

[Drunkmonkey]

vaughters is playing politics. white has been linked to GreenEDGE and vaughters is just making a pre-emptive strike, to deny white the opportunity to bring riders across from garmin on garmin's watch.

the circumstances of his sacking stink like rotten fish. they've dragged an incident up from the past at an opportune moment. to me, this just damages garmin's credibility - they are exploiting their so-called anti-doping stance for political gain. dirty stuff.

Yes and no.

It looks like politics in play but the reality is that he sent a rider to a suspect doctor without involving the medical team.

What garmin has been doing to Lowe is worse.

Lowe violated the terms of his contract with Slipstream - then Slipstream did not pay him the remaining installment of salary and bonuses due under his contract for December 2010.

The breach of contract is around Lowe signing with Pegasus - and training on a Scott bike and being photgraphed on that bike.

Pro contracts are valid up to 31 December - its in their contracts that they must train in the team kit and on the team bike (unless approval is given by the team, hence why some of the team were riding Cervelo's before 31 December).

[Drunkmonkey]

What garmin has been doing to Lowe is worse

You may change that to the opposite if the current statements about Lowe trying to blackmail garmin are true.

X 2

Lowe's bitterness is what may have cost White his job...........

Slipstream Sports offers update on Lowe case

New information regarding del Moral referral emerges

The management of Jonathan Vaughters' Slipstream Sports team today released a statement concerning the current situation regarding former rider Trent Lowe. The team says that information regarding Lowe's attendance at Dr. Luis Garcia del Moral's clinic only emerged during contract disputes between Slipstream Sports and the rider.

The team has also included a timeline of events surrounding the case; from Lowe's disclosure that he attended del Moral's clinic to the dismissal of directeur sportif Matt White and the subsequent allegation that Lowe and advisor Martin Hardie (who organised an anti-doping conference featuring Floyd Landis during last year's UCI Road World Championships in Australia) "threatened to publicly expose certain information relating to Dr. Luis Garcia del Moral unless Slipstream acceded to their demands, which included a payment of $500,000 to Trent".

The press release is as follows:

Slipstream Sports is committed to transparency and as such we want to share new information regarding Trent Lowe.

We have been in discussions with Trent Lowe and his advisor regarding the possible settlement of a proposed breach of contract threatened by Trent in connection with his rider agreement with Slipstream (which expired on December 31, 2010).

In the course of these negotiations, on January 24, 2011, Trent, through his advisor, made it known that there was new information relating to Dr. Luis Garcia Del Moral. At this time they threatened to publicly expose certain information relating to Dr. Luis Garcia del Moral unless Slipstream acceded to their demands, which included a payment of $500,000 to Trent.

Upon receiving this new information we immediately conducted an internal investigation and found a PDF attachment to an email sent by Trent to Slipstream team doctor, Dr. Prentice Steffen, copying Jonathan Vaughters in June 2009.

The PDF attachment was a copy of Trent's UCI quarterly health check blood test conducted in June 2009 and it contained the name of Dr. Luis Garcia del Moral in the letterhead of the results. Neither Dr. Steffen nor Jonathan Vaughters noticed del Moral's name on the letterhead in June 2009 and, at the time, neither Dr. Steffen nor Vaughters were aware that Trent had visited del Moral.

In fact, Slipstream was not made aware of any interaction with del Moral until Trent disclosed the information on January 6, 2011. The test results were forwarded to the UCI, as is protocol with quarterly health checks.

It is critical to note that this blood test was a third quarter UCI health check test, a procedure mandated by the UCI to ensure the health of the riders, and not an anti-doping measure. This health check has nothing to do with the biological passport or ASDI. UCI health check blood tests may be done at any laboratory of the rider's volition and do not have to follow any of the handling guidelines that anti-doping tests must.

The PDF was not discovered in our original investigation as that investigation was focused on the referral made by Matt White. It is also important to note that blood tests in Spain do not require an order or attendance from a physician and that there does not seem to be any violation of team policy by Trent Lowe in connection with the performance of the mandated UCI blood tests.

The only violation in team policy was the separate issue of the referral, which Slipstream addressed on January 23, 2011.

Slipstream is committed to putting processes in place that help underscore our values and as a result we have put a new policy in place for UCI quarterly health checks, effective immediately.

We are sharing all of this information in the interest of transparency. We welcome additional information from Trent and will act accordingly, as we have throughout this process, if and when he decides to provide it.

Following are details of the timeline surrounding Slipstream Sports and Trent Lowe:

January 6, 2011: Trent Lowe emailed Jonathan Vaughters regarding a contract dispute surrounding December 2010 payment. It is Slipstream's position that Lowe violated the terms of his contract with Slipstream and, as a result, Slipstream did not pay him the remaining installment of salary and bonuses due under his contract for December 2010.

In that email, Trent also stated that Matt White had referred him to Dr. Luis Garcia del Moral, which was the first time that Slipstream became aware that Trent had been referred to del Moral.

Jonathan Vaughters immediately responded to Trent, asking him for details about the situation which Trent did not respond to.

Several attempts were made by Slipstream to reach Trent both directly and through his advisor, Martin Hardie, to obtain information about the referral and neither opted to provide that information.

Simultaneously, Slipstream also continued to try to settle the breach of contract dispute, but to this date a settlement has not been reached. Slipstream has consistently maintained that the contract issue was and is entirely separate from the referral issue.

Slipstream investigated the referral claim, which ultimately resulted in White's dismissal on January 23.

January 24, 2011: Trent Lowe's advisor, Martin Hardie, contacted Slipstream claiming to have a new communication between de Moral and the Slipstream organisation.

The details concerning this are discussed above.

Again, we are sharing all of this information in the interest of transparency. We welcome additional information from Trent and will act accordingly, as we have throughout this process, if and when he decides to provide it.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/slipstr ... -lowe-case

[Redbull]

What garmin has been doing to Lowe is worse

You may change that to the opposite if the current statements about Lowe trying to blackmail garmin are true.

So I see

[MichaelB]

Sounds like more than one person stuffed up....

[Aushiker]

Hi

It seems Matt White has had no problems getting a new position according to Cycling News.

Matt White will indeed be professional men's road coordinator for the Cycling Australia High Performance Program following an investigation into his breach of Garmin-Cervélo team policy which saw him dismissed from his role as directeur sportif.

Cycling Australia had announced White would take up a position with the national cycling body this year during the Santos Tour Down Under but following the event, which Garmin-Cervélo rider Cameron Meyer won, White was sacked with immediate effect.

Andrew

[Uncle Just]

Ray Godkin didn't have any problems with Neil Stephen's admission of EPO use during his Festina years when he was hired him for the same position. And Neil's explanation was accepted unequivocally. Forgiving organisation is our CA.

[toolonglegs]

I thought he already had the job before this came out...they just had to double check once the news broke.I don't think it is a big position money wise / hours etc as he was going to do it while still being a DS for Garmin.
Yes silly mistake...but he also should have known better...clouds the name of the rider sending him to a doctor of that reputation as well.
Spain ...you can buy EPO over the counter without a script there quite easily.

[RonK]

Yes silly mistake...but he also should have known better...clouds the name of the rider sending him to a doctor of that reputation as well.

Really? Seems a bit like the sanctimonious Vaughters is in damage control mode to me. In one of his stream of pre-emptive press releases, he admits Trent emailed his blood test report to Slipstream. Quoting from this release:

"The PDF attachment was a copy of Trent's UCI quarterly health check blood test conducted in June 2009 and it contained the name of Dr. Luis Garcia del Moral in the letterhead of the results."

It then goes on to make the pathetically weak excuse:

"Neither Dr. Steffen nor Jonathan Vaughters noticed del Moral's name on the letterhead in June 2009 and, at the time, neither Dr. Steffen nor Vaughters were aware that Trent had visited del Moral."

I think a more plausible explanation that Slipstream simply chose to ignore the matter until it was mentioned during apparently bitter contract negotiations. Appallingly, Vaughters now tries to frame this as some kind of blackmail, and then has to sack Matt White to cover his ass.

Whenever there is a suggestion that an association with this doctor "clouds the name of the rider", we would do well to remember that del Moral was the US Postal team doctor at the same time as Lance Armstrong, Matt White, and Vaughters himself were team members (and others who have since been exposed as drug cheats), so by this reasoning the reputations of all fall under the same cloud.

Personally, I'm very suspicious of Garmin Slipstream's supposed anti-drug stance. The oft-misquoted phrase "methinks he doth protest too loudly" comes to mind whenever I hear Vaughters or foul-mouthed proven drug cheat David Millar fervently spouting their anti-drug spin.

[im_no_pro]

I thought he already had the job before this came out...they just had to double check once the news broke.I don't think it is a big position money wise / hours etc as he was going to do it while still being a DS for Garmin.

+1, he already had the CA job when he got the chop from Slipstream